Could you Teach the Rules of Love?
by Music-Is-Life-88
Summary: Hercules has a new favourite teacher, Hades needs to find someone Hercules cares about, but what happens when Hades start to care about her instead? A match made in Olympus. Hades/Persephone, inspired by the trashed plot line from the cartoon.
1. A New Plan

Hades paced around his throne room, scorching the ground as he stalked around his giant chessboard. That day had been a slow one. Ever since he let the 'doctor' go, there were fewer souls than usual, and Hades found out that even flaming Pain and Panic got boring after a while. So when he reached his daily limit of tolerating the two idiots, he (regrettably) had time to catch up on paper work. Now, all the paperwork was complete and he was trying to find a new way to rid himself of Jerk-cules.

He'd been doing the same thing for the past hour. He moved pieces around, picked them up, burned them in frustration, and then remade them before putting them back. "_Oy_, come on… there's gotta be something, SOMETHING, that I haven't tried on the super powered _yutz_." His flames turned orange, making the small Hercules figure crumble into ashes once again. He sighed before regenerating it and setting it back at Prometheus Academy. He pulled his eyebrows together as an idea was starting to spark in his mind.

He looked around at all the figurines. There were all the gods, goddess, and demi-gods, the demons and monsters, and of course himself; even Pain and Panic had two tiny clay versions of themselves set on the map. Yet, as he looked at the carefully moulded clay pieces, he didn't see anyone who was friends with Hercules on the board. "PAIN! PANIC!"

"Coming your most Flamefullness," Pain's voice rung from the stairs outside his throne room. He tapped his foot and his fingers, his flames flickering with impatience. Then he heard some loud thumps and shouting as the two no doubt tumbled down the rock hard steps due to their clutsy nature. Finally, the doors burst open as they rolled in. Pain and Panic (who was sticking out from Pain's back by his ears) were holding their arms in salute. "How may we spread your adept evilness?"

"Whatever adept means…" Panic added, pulling himself out of Pain, landing with a thump on the cold stone.

Hades rolled his eyes and took a deep breath, "Ok boys, we've been goin' at this all wrong, ok? We've been attacking Jerkcules time and time again, failing_ miserably every __**time**_!" The two imps flinched while Hades exploded in anger, "I'm cool, I'm cool… _anyways_," he leaned in closer, causing them to shift uncomfortably, "what _haven't_ we tried?"

They glanced at each other, they had no idea, and they knew that that meant Hades was going to fry them. Of course, anything they did meant Hades was going to fry them. "Um, did we already try a lion?" Asked Pain nervously,

Panic's face lifted as he shared his idea, "Tigers?"

"Bears?"

"Shut UP!" Hades lifted his arms as shot them at the wall. When he was satisfied they we properly singed, he reached down and peeled the now scorched imps off the wall. The grasp around their necks tightened as he spoke through his teeth, "We keep attacking _**him**_, a demi-god, when we should try attacking the stupid little mortals he _**cares about**_."

"I'm confused," Pain choked out, "So now it's the mortals getting in the way between you and Olympus?"

Hades squeezed his hands tighter and pulled them close to his face, "No, now listen carefully: we kidnap someone he cares about. We have a little fun, ya know, torture them and what not until Jerkules decides to save them. We bargain his soul in exchange for their freedom. Simple, boom, full proof. He's a hero, it's what they do ya know? Sacrifice themselves for the greater good or something." He let them fall to the ground, letting a smirk appear on his face, "Go on, get going with it. Find a weak little mortal he –uck-_ cares_ about and bring 'em here so I can torture someone new. Oh, and _not_ that crazy… monkey kid who flew too close to the sun or that cynical seer… little _yutzes_ get in the way enough already…"

* * *

><p>Pain and Panic had already spent the first half of the day observing Hercules' morning at school. While they were looking for someone he cared about, they were also looking for someone that wouldn't annoy themselves or the Lord of the Underworld.<p>

"Ok, so Adonis was a no go-" Pain recapped,

Panic nodded, "Too arrogant."

"Tempest is _definitely _out-"

"Too scary…" he shuddered at the thought of the young Amazon in the Underworld, "There's gotta be someone else that we missed!"

"Yeah, how hard is find someone Hercules cares about? I mean don't heroes care about _everything_? Like, they save kittens from trees and give nuts to homeless squirrels…" Pain rambled as they hid behind a trash can in the Prometheus Academy cafeteria, spying on the young hero in training sitting at the table close by.

"Shut up, I can't hear him!" They peaked out to see Hercules motioning for his friend Cassandra to sit with him.

"She's the best!" Hercules said when she took a spot beside the young hero.

She raised an eyebrow, "Who?"

"The new Language teacher, Cassandra," he sighed dramatically, resting his chin on his hands, "She's smart; and pretty -gorgeous actually-"

"Heya guys!" Icarus slid expertly into the spot beside Cassandra, "Are you talking about the new teacher? Yep, she's a beaut. But none can compare to my fair Lady of Love," he leaned his head on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her.

She scoffed and shoved him onto the floor, "Oh yeah, I've heard of her. Miss… Persephone, right? Seems nice enough… of course that all depends on how today goes. Our last teacher left right before we were going to start a poetry unit, I want to see if she actually knows her stuff."

"Oh, you'll love her Cassandra, she's amazing! Yesterday, she talked about-"

Panic huffed and started walking away, "That's great! There's no one else he cares about… we're going to get blasted past the Elysian Field straight into Tartarus."

Pain grimaced at the thought of the agony they'd endure as they slouched away. Suddenly, he perked up and grabbed the other imp by the shoulders, shaking him, "Panic! The teacher! You heard Hercules," he put his hands together and began to mimic him, " 'She's smart and pretty', the teacher is who we need!"

Panic smiled wickedly, "The teacher, the teacher's good…"

* * *

><p>"So, to wrap up, Arctinus was born in Miletus; he was a pupil of Homer and now has three bestselling scrolls that I've provided each of you with. Don't worry about getting them ruined; those stories will be around for centuries." The chimes rang, signalling the end of the day. As everyone scrambled out of their seats and out the door, she called out desperately, "Ok class, tomorrow there's going to be a short quiz about Arctinus and we'll talk about an up and coming poet from <em>Sparta<em>!" She watched as a tumbleweed rolled by the door that had been kept open from the wind left by the rush of students. She sighed, walking back to her desk, "Yeah… 'kay… 'Bye Miss Persephone', 'Have fun marking three classes worth of scrolls that the old teacher left behind, Miss Persephone'," she mocked her students, although she couldn't say she blamed them, "Thanks for caring…" She struggled to collect all the scrolls in her thin arms and shove as many of them in her satchel before exiting.

The two imps peaked out from the farthest corner of the class where they'd been hiding in the shadows. Panic watched her go with extreme interest as he swayed back on forth on the heels of his feet.

"What?" Pain asked, frustrated by his friend's odd behavior.

"She's really pretty…" he gushed before admitting to Pain, "I don't wanna hand her over to Hades…"

Pain rolled his eyes and tugged on his long ears, pulling him away, "Well, we have to because she's all we got; so either she gets hurt or us."

"But he's gonna break her!" He whined like a child in response as Pain stopped, ready to teleport.

"Well, another scorching like when Hades found out Hercules was still alive, and _**we'll**_ be broken." Panic just gulped. When Pain talked about pain, you could always take his word for it. With that, the two teleported back to the Underworld, waiting anxiously for their boss to return.

* * *

><p>"Ok," Zeus' voice boomed out, "Welcome to another monthly meeting!" Hades rolled his eyes, how could he be so happy at these things? It was the same <em>spiel<em> every time: _'Thank you for coming to my lovely home that you all can visit any time you want to, except for Hades. Speaking of Hades, here's an inconsiderate joke at his expense that's really not funny but you'll all laugh if you know what's good for you. Artemis will try to make another animal endangered, Athena and Ares will fight, and Hades will sit bored out of his mind for an hour'._

Family, _oy vey_.

"Now, Demeter, I believe you said you had a special announcement for the council?" The green skinned goddess nodded before standing up and walking to the head of the table. _How does the cloud not break from under her?_ Hades thought viciously.

"Yes, thank you Zeus. Now, as you know the past 23 years have been incredibly difficult for me as I sat in wait for this year to come."

"What? What is this? The planets aligned in a way that'll make the harvest extra plentiful so people have enough food in the winter and I'm outta the business?" He spoke up sarcastically. Everyone glared at him, Demeter probably the hardest.

"Hush!" Spat Athena, before motioning for Demeter to continue.

"Yes, well, this year is the year I finally get-"

Hades tuned her out; he didn't need, want, or _care _to hear whatever the Goddess of the Harvest could possibly have to say. What have crops done for him anyways? _Zilch_, that's what. He sighed quietly, drowning in boredom. Then to his surprise, relief and (not that he'd ever admit it) excitement, Pain and Panic appeared underneath the table. He leaned down, "Please tell me you got some good news…" he growled threateningly.

The two imps nodded, but before they could respond, Zeus cleared his throat. "Hades, are those _minions_ under the table by any chance?"

Hades chuckled nervously. He hated to admit being afraid of his brother, but _hey, what are you gonna do?_ He got the brains, but Zeus got the bronze…and the painful thunder bolts… "Not at _all_, Zeus, _**bro**_. No, just some… roaches. Gross little things aren't they?" He continued to force out laughter while stomping his feet trying to kill the imaginary roaches. He leaned back to his minions and whispered hurriedly, "This'll have ta wait boys, now _scram_." The two disappeared in a puff of smoke and he sat back up, forcing a painful smile to grow on his face. He clasped his hands together in front of his like an innocent school boy. Zeus nodded in approval before telling Demeter to continue.

Hades' body immediately went back to his normal position: scowl, head resting on one hand, leaning back in his chair completely uninterested. He thought of the 'good news' waiting for him at home and grumbled under his breath, "Someone, just damn me to Tartarus already…"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello everyone! I'm excited to apart of the Disney's Hercules Fandom to bring you my take on the Hades/Seph relationship. I'm intimidated though... I believe I've read every story on these two in this section and every one of them is great so I hope I can measure up… ^_^ well, we'll see!**

**Anyways, this idea came from the trashed plot line Disney had about Persephone being a teacher, so I thought "What the hell, let's go for it". So in case you didn't catch it, this is set in the Hercules TV series but will probably (hopefully) get to be integrated into the movie. I know we didn't see Persephone much, but that's because next chapter will focus more on Persephone and her history.**

**Feedback is VERY MUCH appreciated! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Bees in the Garden

When Hades appeared into the throne room after the meeting on Olympus, the two imps were waiting anxiously for him, grins spread across their faces. Hades sighed, the meetings always drained him and he really didn't feel like listening to the two of them, unless they were screaming, "Ok, ok, make it fast boys," he formed a fireball in his palm, "I need some cheering up,"

The imps' smiles faltered at the sight of the flame, but Panic still continued, clearing his throat he spoke up, "We have great news Your Most Merciless-ness."

When Pain saw the fire vanish, he joined the conversation, "Yep, we have found someone Hercules cares about!"

"It's his teacher," Panic explained excitedly, "See, we were sneaking around the school following Hercules all stealthy like when-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Hades put his hands up, stopping Panic's rant, "that's great, good for you. Now, where is she?"

Pain and Panic looked at each other nervously, "Umm, I would guess teaching?" Panic responded, inching further behind Pain.

"What?" The two imps began cowering in fear, but the scorching flame never came. They each opened an eye and saw Hades, thinking. "You know what? I'm not gonna fry ya, I'm not. Ya wanna know why? Because I, as a God, am giving an act of mercy." They both looked nervously at each other noticing his tone changing as he spoke louder, "So go get the little mortal… teacher… _thing_, before I FRY YOU INTO NEXT WEEK!"

* * *

><p>Back on the surface, Hercules was once again having lunch with Icarus and Cassandra. Hercules was talking about how much stress Phil has him under, now that he decided to up his training. "That's what you get for going on and on about how your old training was for boys and now 'you're a man'." Cassandra pointed out dryly.<p>

Hercules glared at her before continuing, "Well, I just thought that he'd change the routine so we'd do more cool exercises, like the routines I read other heroes do in those pop culture scrolls. All I did was run laps, lift weights, throws spears then repeat."

"So what do you do now?"

"Run longer, lift heavier and throw farther…" he confessed before groaning, letting his head hit the table.

Icarus came up beside him and put a comforting arm around his shoulder, "Ya know what Herc? Bein' a hero isn't always about what you do… it's also about what you eat, what is _in_ this stuff?" He knelt down so he was eye level with the table, looking at the tray of white gloop. He hesitantly poked it, causing it to wriggle away, "Oh boy…"

Suddenly, Cassandra doubled over, when she sat back up, her eyes were green as she stared out into time itself, "I see Miss Persephone being taken."

Hercules' eyes widened, "When?"

"Oh," she looked up to see the position of the sun, "about now-" She started to answer until Icarus cut her off.

"No time for that honey bunch, Herc needs to come with me to the kitchen. I demand to know what this white atrocity is that has replaced my liver!"

Cassandra watched her two friends go off to harass the lunch ladies. She sighed and rested her chin in her hand, "Why doesn't anyone listen to me?"

* * *

><p>"And so, thanks to Homer's starred review, '<em>Oedipodea'<em> is now one of the highest selling poem scrolls since Homer's '_Cypria'_; making Cinaethon of Sparta Greece's newest up-and-coming poets."

Persephone nodded to one of the students who had their hand up, "Miss Persephone, are you _sure_ Cinaethon is from Sparta?" The class murmured in agreement, "It's just that, us Athenians are taught that the pen is mightier than the sword, while Spartans are thought to have no problem breaking our pens then our faces _with_ _their swords_."

Miss Persephone nodded in thought before addressing the question, "Well Pandora, just because you're raised one way, doesn't mean you're going to become that way."

"Ok, for tonight, please read '_Little Iliad'_ and write a response ready to hand in tomorrow." The class groaned and began rolling their scrolls back up, "Don't give me that, I can't just grade you on how well you listen to me talk all day. The school board wants to know some of what I'm saying is sticking in your adolescent minds." She smiled as the class chuckled, before leaving to go home.

She gathered all her things, happy the day was over so she could finally go home. Suddenly, the door burst open, making Persephone scream and drop everything, "Are you alright? Did you get kidnapped already?"

She recognized the voice as Hercules', who was rambling as he stumbled clumsily her. She rolled her eyes but remained patient, "Yes, I'm fine. No, I'm clearly _not_ kidnapped. Is there anything I can help you with Hercules?" She silently begged for him to say no, to just let her walk home in peace.

"Actually yes," _Curses…_ "I was wondering was you would allow a handsome and strong hero-in-training escort you home?" He puffed out his chest, trying to act macho. Persephone raised an eyebrow and placed a hand gently on her hip. This deflated the poor hero's ego and he slumped forward, "F-f-for safety precautions a-and stuff…" he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly while tracing lines on the ground with his sandal.

She rolled her eyes, it was a pitiful sight. She didn't know what else she could do, "Alright Hercules, thank you for the concern."

His smile returned and he gathered Persephone's belongings, carrying them with ease. _Well, at least there's one good thing about this_.

The entire walk home consisted of Hercules talking of his many successful pursuits with Icarus and Cassandra. Persephone liked to think of herself as a good teacher, so she could never repeat what she was thinking aloud:

'_Why won't he stop talking? Does he ever shut up? Gods, I pray for the strength not to beat him straight to Tartarus. Good Gods he's annoying for a hero. If I have to end up teaching poetry written about him, I swear by the River Styx I'll-_'

"We're here! And no attempts at kidnapping! Wow… Cassandra was actually wrong for once…" Hercules looked at Persephone's confused face, "I should explain. Cassandra can-"

"Yes, well that's great. Thanks again for your help Jer- I mean Hercules, see you tomorrow!" With that, she sped into her small house and slammed the door, leaving a trail of dust floating up from the ground.

She breathed a sigh of relief and dumped her scrolls onto the table in the kitchen, "Father! I'm home!" She announced. When there was no response, she began walking down the hall of the one story home to her father's bedroom. The room was dark, the windows covered, a small, thin, and frail man was lying on his back, with a cool cloth on his pale face, "How are you feeling today?"

"Much-" he began coughing, "-better-" She reached for a bowl in case he was about to vomit, but he stopped her, "-it's fine. Just an itch in my throat."

"Well, I don't care; you're going back to the doctor's in two days' time." She replaced the cloth on his forehead and stroked his grey hair, "I wish I could take you in tomorrow, but it's his day off to go play golf with the lawyers."

He nodded, "So, how was work honey?"

"Same old, same old. Sometimes, it's like once you read one poet, you've read them all." She smiled as a chuckled escape her father's dry lips, "Seriously, Homer's mentoring everyone now that he's opened up that new writer's school for up and coming journalists. Give it a decade, there's not going to be an original writer from here to Olympus, and back down to the Underworld. Also I think one of my students has a small infatuation with me,"

"Why are you so surprised, look at you, you're beautiful!" He praised, before going into a fit of coughing again.

"Shh, father, rest now. I'll wake you in a few hours for your medicine." She stayed with him as his eyelids slowly closed, then she left to go to the garden.

The garden at her house was unlike any in Athens. Rare and exotic plants flourished and were prosperous. As a child, each time she questioned her father about the odd amount of nature in their backyard, he replied that the house was atop the best farm in the town and that the ground on their land was blessed by Demeter herself.

Persephone smiled at the memories of her younger days, without care and worry. It had always been just her and her father taking care of her. She had no problems with the roles being reversed, she felt that she owed him so much; she wasn't exactly the easy to deal with as a kid. She stepped out towards the small birdbath in the center of the garden to think to herself. Unbeknownst to her, the grass became a bright shade of green and the plants near her feet sprang happily to life.

As she stared into the water and splashed some onto a nearby pomegranate tree whose leaves were looking dry, two bees emerged from picking their nectar to observe her. "That i**zzz** _good!_" The green bee said, licking the nectar from his lips,

The magenta bee smacked the other with its stinger, "Not now! Let's just grab the lady and get her back to the boss before he flame**zzz** us…"

The green bee huffed; disappointed he wouldn't be getting more nectar, but agreed and followed his companion towards Persephone to grab her from behind. As the two inched closer and closer, stingers with a knockout effect at the ready, two vines popped up out of nowhere and began strangling them. Persephone sighed, still unaware of the presence of the imps, and began walking back to the house. When she was far enough away that no harm could be done, the plants released the bees, reverting them to their imp form.

"Hey, that hurt!" Pain shouted, shaking his fist angrily at the plant. The vine raised itself high above the imp, making him shrink back. Satisfied, the vine shrunk back. Then it pretended to reach for the imps again, making Pain jump in Panic's arms, both of them shaking in fear. The leaves on the vines rusted together to sound remarkably like laughter as the vine shrunk away.

Pain blew a raspberry as he jumped out of Panic's arms, "That was _rude!_"

"Forget about rude," Panic shouted, "the boss is gonna kill us!"

"No, he wouldn't do that," Pain said, comforting Panic a bit, "if he did, we'd just end up in the same place. No, instead he'll fry us and then reincarnate us over and over in an excruciatingly painful cycle for all of eternity."

Panic stared at the magenta imp in shock. "Well, we can't go back to Hades without the teacher! Luckily…I have a backup plan!"

The green imp stared at him; he couldn't believe it, "Really?"

"Oh yeah, oh yeah…" Panic nodded his head, urging him to continue, "I just don't know it yet…"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Honestly… I'm a bit disappointed in myself for this chapter… I kind of just wanted to get it out of the way because I'm actually looking forward to the next few I have planned out.**

**All well, I tried. I hope I made it funny enough. As always, feedback is much appreciated! Next chapter's recipe includes a dash of Demeter, a pinch of the Fates, and mixing together some Hades and Persephone meeting for the first time. (Preheat at Hades' temper, and let it rise).**


	3. Hot for Teacher

Aphrodite watched as Demeter scuttled around the apartment, cleaning and arranging furniture. More specifically, Demeter had completely re-designed her guest room. It was furnished with earth tones throughout, the closet to the far wall was filled with clothing of a virgin white. The reason Aphrodite was there was because her husband, Hephaestus, had just finished making all this new furniture by Demeter's request. The two goddesses had never been terribly close, but Aphrodite still decided to hang around and see what was going on, "Demeter, don't you think, uh… I don't know… you should _wait_ until this Persephone girl arrives? See what she likes for _her own_ room?"

"Nonsense! She'll love it, it's perfect!"

"For you maybe…" Aphrodite mumbled under her breath,

Demeter froze in place and spoke in a low tone, "What was that?"

"Nothing, look Demeter honey, I have to go. The Fates wanted to talk to me, I don't know, their place just –ew- it grosses me out. I mean, Underworld, hello, ew, who would want to live down there?" Demeter laughed in agreement and walked her to the door, "Well, good luck with… whatever _this_ is." Then Aphrodite vanished off the doorstep.

The Goddess of the Harvest closed the door and hurried back to Persephone's room. She had been dreaming of this day since time began. A daughter, an apprentice for her to call her own. To raise as she sees fit, to mold into a perfect offspring, "I must go talk to Athena about whether there's room for a fourth Virgin Goddess…"

* * *

><p>"Ok, now that everyone's handed in their assignments, let's start talking about the giant end of unit assignment that will account for a huge chunk of your final mark," <em>Cue groan<em>, Persephone thought. As if on command, the entire class groaned after the thought passed through her mind, _there we go_, "But don't get freaked-"_ oh what am I saying?_ "Look, I can see the death glare you're trying to send my way Adonis, but let's all think of it this way: you all don't want to write a long, boring scroll, I don't want to have to mark 300 long, boring scrolls." A light bulb turned on over her head and she smiled, "So… do whatever you want." Her smiled grew at the looks of confusion throughout her class, "Pick anyone of the poets we learned about and be ready to present next Monday, bonus points for creativity guys: I want anything _but_ a scroll!" The class murmured agreement as they began discussing their plans with each other, "Ok, ok, now, back to today's lesson plan. I don't want to give you guys anymore new stuff to distract the focus from your assignment so let's go back and review Homer-"

Persephone turned around to write on the chalkboard, her long blonde hair swishing at the motion. Before the chalk could touch, the ground began shaking, "What in holy Olympus? This is starting to feel like the earthquake of 365…" The large doors to the classroom burst open revealing a monster that was a hybrid of a serpent and a bull. The entire class, including Miss Persephone, started screaming in terror.

Pain and Panic were hiding on the high windowsill looking down at the scene. Panic nodded excitedly, "This will _definitely _work! It will snatch Miss Persephone and bring her straight back to Hades! He'll be so proud!"

"Yeah," Pain agreed, "What's it called again?"

"An 'O-phi-o-taur-us'," the green imp answer, summoning up popcorn,

Pain grabbed some and shoved it in his mouth, "Kinda funny how it was just lying around in the Underworld. You don't think it was important or nothin' do ya?"

"Nah, the cage and chains were probably to keep it from making a mess in the throne room. Doesn't mean we can't take it out for a walk to play."

"Persephone!" The monster roared out, it's booming voice echoing off the walls.

The teens all turned to look at their teacher who, like them, was hiding under a desk, "Uhh… she's not here right now."

The monster, who had a chunk of ground lifted above its head ready to throw, stopped. It looked around guiltily and lowered the slab of rock and dirt back onto the Earth, "Oh…" it responded in its deep, still threatening voice, "Sorry…" It lowered its head in shame and began to walk away.

The two imps watching became angry and teleported down in front of the monster. "And just where do you think you're going mister?" Panic asked, hands on his hips, "You're supposed to be kidnapping Persephone!"

"Duh, she's not here doh… the pretty lady under da desk said so…"

"She was _lying!_" Pain shouted, kicking the monster's leg, only to have it cause him pain instead. The two imps teleported back to their 'front row seats'.

"Oh, oh ok!" The Ophiotaurus turned around and resumed its rampage. It stomped over to the teacher's desk, lifting it up, revealing the quivering Persephone underneath, "You're coming with me!" His large serpent tail slithered around her body and grabbed her with ease. She screamed as she was lifted up in the air.

"Not so fast!" In the doorway stood Hercules, Cassandra and Icarus. The two latter were starting to escort students out of the room. Hercules, sword in hand, ran to monster and pointed the sword threateningly at its face, "I demand you release her!"

"Duh… ok."

"Ah!" The tail let her go instantly, sending her on a drop into Hercules arms,

"Uh… h-h-hey Miss Persephone…" Hercules gushed, setting her down gently. When he wasn't looking, she rolled her eyes.

Pain and Panic once again appeared in front of the monster, "No!" The magenta imp said, "just because the hero tells you to let her go, doesn't mean you do!"

"Uh, but he didn't tells me, he demanded-ed me."

Panic squeezed his eyes together in frustration, "What_ever_, point is, you're a big, scary monster and you don't have to listen to puny heroes-in-training like _Jerk-ules!_" Persephone's ears perked up at the familiar nickname.

"Duh, so why is I taking orders from you guys then?" The monster questioned with sudden confidence, lifting both imps off the ground,

Hercules sprang into action, "Hey! They both may be evil and incompetent and dumber than a bag of wheat but a hero saves all!"

"Thank you!"

"And _hey!_"

The hero-in-training leapt off the ground onto the beast's back and began a wrestle, causing the two imps to drop in front of a very outraged Persephone. "She looks a lot more scary when she's not hiding in fear of some 50 foot monster…" Panic commented as the two cowering in the shadow of the tall, Greek woman whose confidence rose since there was a lack of monsters trying to kidnap her,

"Who are you?" She growled out, hands clenched. The imps looked at eachother, if her hair were on fire she'd be exactly like…

"Hades!" They both shouted in surprise. Behind the three, Hercules and the monster were still fighting strong, to which they were oblivious.

She raised an eyebrow, "You expect me to believe, _both _of_ you_ are the Lord of the Dead?"

"No!" Pain shouted, trying to cover their mistake,

"But we work for him! Ow!" Panic rubbed the back of his head where Pain hit him, "Why can't she know that? She was going to get kidnapped and brought to him anyways." Instead of hitting his friend again, Pain just buried his face in his palms.

Before the young teacher could comment, the three of them were brought back to the monster situation when the ground shook and a loud thud echoed in the large, mostly empty room. They saw Hercules standing atop the slain monster. The two imps, at the sight of their failure, teleported back to the Underworld unseen to deliver the bad news. Just then, Icarus and Cassandra returned with a centaur. "Kid, good job, your father's gonna want ta deal with this thing here, specifically the –ech- _entrails_. Don't ask… that stuff skeaves me out."

"Ok Phil," Hercules said, jumping off the giant chest of the beast. Hercules noticed his teacher standing awkwardly alone, "Oh, Phil, this is-"

"Well, hell-_o_ there." Phil was immediately by her side,

She folded her arms across her chest, "Oh boy…"

* * *

><p>"So, how do you see this plan workin' out for me? Huh babes? Come on, we've known each other for eons and you get more beautiful every century." Hades flashed his award winning smirk at the three Fates. Clotho, the green-skinned Fate, gushed casting a begging look to her sisters. Lachesis, the tallest of the three crossed her arms disapprovingly, the spider sliding out of her nose on its way to freedom. However, she knew of her sister's friendliness towards the Lord of the Underworld and sucked in a breath in defeat, bringing the spider back up.<p>

Atropos, the shortest of the Fates, began to chant,

"_In one day's time you must act out your plan,"_

Clotho added in,

"_But in doing so you won't become Demeter's biggest fan,_

_For in doing so ruins her plan of 23 years-"_

"Ok, ok, enough!" Hades interrupted, his flames shooting up, a wall of orange fire, "Enough… with the verses, and the rhyming, and the poetry nonsense. This Demeter thing, it's no news," he told them, waving that part off dismissively, "But, and correct me if I'm wrong, did I not hear you say to act out my plan?"

"In one day's time." Lachesis reminded,

"Yeah yeah yeah, that's great. But, you're saying… this plan will work?"

"Yes," she replied, irritated, before leaning down to Atropos' ear, "in a manner of speaking," the shortest Fate laughed with glee.

Hades, however, didn't notice the Fates odd behavior; he was already shooing them out the door, thinking of new and improved methods of torture. When he closed the colossal doors to his palace, the distinctive sound of Pain and Panic falling down the grand staircase alerted him of their presence. He turned around and, in a tangled pile on the floor, there they were. Hades smirked at them and leaned down towards them, "Pain, Panic," he addressed them in a sickingly sweet voice, "**where's** my **hostage**?"

"Umm," Panic stuttered, pointing above them.

Hade's face fell, "My plan, the one that was guaranteed to work, approved by the _**Fates**_ is going to be ruined because you two _morons_ can't capture a simple, _mortal, __**school teacher**_?"

The imps, now reduced to piles of ashes on the floor, began reassembling themselves. If there was one thing they didn't know was a blessing or a curse was the fact they could reanimate themselves. Pain spoke up in an obviously terrified manner, "Well, we tried having your pet O-phi-taurus-"

'O-phi-_**o**_-taurus," Panic corrected,

"Yeah yeah, well, we tried having it steal the teacher, but the problem is since we're trying to kidnap someone Hercules cares about…"

"Hercules tends to show up and save them,"

The flames on Hade's head, while still normal size, turned a violent red and began flickering in anger. His hands fisted, his eyes squeezed shut, and his jaw clenched, he asked them in a rough tone, "Where. Is. My. Monster. _Now?_"

"Oh, Hercules slayed him." Panic answered, happy he knew the answer to the question.

"Yeah, and apparently Zeus is going to take care of its guts or something?" Pain explained, disgusted.

"DO you _yutzes_ know what the entrails of the Ophiotaurus can _**do**_!"

Hades gripped them each in a choke hold once again as Panic tried to speak with the little air he still had, "No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell us!"

"The entrails have the power to defeat the Gods!" He threw them at the wall and stomped over to them, "After Jerk-cules gave up his soul, I was going to use those to bring down Zeus!" Flames once again engulfed the room, singeing the imps as well as the map and the figurines on the table, "No, you know what? That's it, never send an imps to do a God's job." With that, Hades vanished, heading to the surface world.

"You know, he should really try to work on his _anger issues_," Panic whispered,

Pain nodded as they began cleaning up the mess, "Yeah, like, try some of those mental calming techniques or something."

* * *

><p>"Ok Miss Persephone, we just have to deliver this to my dad's temple down the road and I'll be back to escort you home!" Hercules stated proudly, holding the Ophiotaurus' body above his head with only one hand. Persephone forced a smile, even though her blue eyes were glaring daggers at him. She wasn't sure how, but this was his fault. These things didn't start happening until she started working here and became his favorite teacher.<p>

"Alright Hercules, but I really don't think it's necessary for you to-" but she couldn't finish her sentence since Hercules and Phil already started out the door, an excited Icarus following behind, "No one ever listens…" she grumbled.

"Tell me about it," Cassandra said following her friends out the door.

Persephone sighed, running her fingers through her messy hair. She knew there was no point in arguing with Hercules, she'd end up feeling guilty and giving into him anyway, why not just let the kid walk her home? She looked around the messy classroom and spotted her satchel on the floor. She bent down and opened it, happy to see all the scrolls inside, still intact, "Thank Zeus,"

"Oh, you might not want to be saying that _just yet_." A voice said from behind her. She stood up and turned around.

"Who are you?" She demanded. It was obvious he was a god of sorts, but she didn't recognise him from the statues at the Parthenon.

The Lord of the Dead, for once, was silent. The angry mortal in front of him, hands on her hips clutching her satchel tightly, was beautiful. Her long blonde locks were in a tangled mess, her normally white toga was covered with dust and dirt, and her pale blue eyes looked like they were damning him straight to Tartarus.  
>And he <em>liked<em> it.

"_Hushy-bubba_."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Ok, so… I'm not in the mood for an author's note this time so just please review!**


	4. The Kidnapping of Persephone

"Hades, Lord of the Dead. Hi, how ya doing?" Persephone stood in shock as Hades stood up and leaned forward, holding his hand out and flashing a devious grin. She was frozen, there in front of her, was the notorious Lord of the Dead, "Speechless? Ya, I know, I know. I, uh, _have_ that affect people. Anyways, enough about me, let's talk about _you._ See, _you_ can do something for _me_," he waltzed over to the young teacher, frozen in place. He wrapped a long, cloaked arm around her shoulders, "Now, I have this teensy little problem, let's call him Jerk-cules," Persephone was again shocked that the Lord of the Dead and his assistants shared the same nickname for Hercules, "See, I've been meaning to take care of said problem for a while now and **believe me**, I've tried!"

She backed away when his flames started growing. He combed his 'hair' back and muttered, "It's good, it's alright…" He looked up to the frightened teacher inching farther away from him. He flashed her a toothy grin and she decided to sprint for it; however, the moment she turned around, she ran right into his chest. His arms wrapped around her, stopping her from moving, but not her attempts at escape, "So, now, I've got this new plan, it's full-proof and guess what babe? It's all. About. You. It's kinda a long story, and I'd love to explain it to you, so _hey_, idea! How about you and I head back down to my place and I can share it with you?"

"Never fear Miss Persephone!" Hercules shouted from the doorway. Never did she think she'd be happy to see one of her students, specifically him, but in this case she was thrilled.

Before Hercules could do anything, Hades leaned to Persephone's ear, "See you soon, babe." With that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Hercules, Cassandra, Icarus and Phil ran over to Persephone, who'd collapsed from exhaustion, "Who, in _**deep**_ Tartarus was that?" She questioned the group, in denial as to what just happened.

Cassandra rolled her eyes and intimidated Hades, "Hades, Lord of the Dead. Hi how ya doin'?" Persephone raised an eyebrow not only at how she sounded exactly like him, but how she knew exactly what he said to her.

"Miss Persephone, a-are you alright? I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner! It's all my fault, I wanted to talk to dad a bit longer, and I saw this really cool stone on the road and-"

Persephone put a hand on Hercules' arm, stopping his rambling. He blushed as she used him to raise herself up, "It's quite alright Hercules, it's not your fault." She lied through her teeth, but the others took her tone on account of the light but long gash on her leg.

Hercules smiled, "Great! Because, I-I wouldn't want you to hate me or anything…" Persephone rolled her eyes,

"Well, that's all good. Now I think I'll hold class outside tomorrow…" She eyed the grey clouds forming through a hole in the ceiling, "Yeah, that'll work out. Well, I best be getting home, tend to this cut. Good night," She tried rushing out, but she took one step of her cut leg and tumbled. Hercules ran over and caught her, holding her bridal style, to his pleasure and her torture.

"Please, allow the hero to escort you home!" Persephone, knowing she had no say in the matter, reluctantly let him once again take her home.

After dropping Persephone off, Hercules rushed back to his father's temple and informed him about Hades. Zeus nodded after Hercules recounted the story Persephone told him and ushered his boy off, "Oh, and Hercules? Keep a close eye on Persephone will you?" Hercules smiled happily and nodded his head yes before running off. Zeus sat down on the statue's chair and sighed, "Well, I suppose I ought to tell Demeter…"

Then, Hermes appeared by his head, "Hey Z-man, just got in a fresh order that a small city just outside of Athens needs itself a good smiting."

"Oh smiting, yay!"

* * *

><p>The rest of the week, Hercules insisted on walking Persephone to and from school and she was quite frankly one more tale of heroic antics away from punching the demi-god in his loud demi-god mouth.<p>

So, the Friday after the attack in her classroom, Hercules walked to her after school as he had been doing and began collecting her things for him to carry, "Ah-actually Hercules, I need to stay behind today and mark."

His face faltered, but the smile was still present, "Oh, well I'll just wait for you-"

"No!" She shouted, before giggling nervously, "N-no, you can't because you need to do your training, right?"

Hercules frowned, "Right," his smile soon returned, "but for you, I'll-"

"Hercules!" He stared at her, shocked. Persephone, ran her fingers through her hair to calm herself down before she continued, "You-you can't skip out on training just for me. I want you to go," She stated, grabbing his upper arms, offering him a smile. He returned it and handed her back her stuff.

"Alright, see you next Monday Miss Persephone!" He shouted behind him as he ran off to Phil's place. Persephone smiled until he was out of sight and rolled her eyes, scoffing.

"Why is so damn annoying…"

A light wind blew by and in her ear, she faintly heard a voice say, "My thoughts exactly,"

She looked around frantically, until off in the distance, opposite to where Hercules headed, a large cloud of dust was rolling up. The ground began shaking and, her leg still weak, she toppled to the ground. Finally, as the dust cloud grew nearer she saw the outline of a chariot, carrying it were two horses black as night itself and holding the reins:

Hades, Lord of the Dead.

Before Persephone could even think about screaming, the chariot had reached her and an arm wrapped around her torso, lifting her off the ground and onto the chariot. She found herself standing in front of Hades, his arms on either side of her holding the reins so she couldn't escape. She was faced forward and she watched in horror as the ground ahead began to open up, "H-hey! What do you think you're doing?"

"I said I'd take you to my place to talk about my plan. Remember? The one all about you? See, I've got a _lot_ riding on this plan and the key part of it, is you being down in the Underworld with me. Sorry for the inconvenience babe,"

"My name, it's not 'babe', it's Persephone."

Hades scoffed as the chariot ran down into the earth, "Persephone? What kind of name is Persephone?"

"The name I was given, do you have a problem with that, _Hades_?"

He rolled his eyes, _oy vey_ this would be an interesting kidnapping, "Not at all babe," he smirked at the sound of disapproval from the mortal in front of him, "anyways, from what I gathered, you have just as much beef with boy blunder as I do. Now, I don't know why, but hey, knowing that _yutz_ there's not a doubt in my mind you have good reason for it," Persephone looked to her sandals guiltily, she knew she didn't, "That's why you're perfect for this plan, and you've already done half of it all on your own!"

She was about to question this when the chariot halted to a stop. He grabbed her and threw her over her shoulder, towards Charon's boat, "As I was saying, you've played nice with the guy, made his trust you, like you even. It's so cute, lil' Herc's got a crush. Uck- so, now that he's grown 'found' of you, I take you down here, he comes to rescue you, I beat him and bada-bing, I'm king of Olympus! Well, in a couple more years, but that's another story,"

He set her down across from him on the boat and nudged for Charon to start rowing, "Only souls may cross the river styx, this one's alive," he stated, motioning to Persephone.

Hades chuckled lightly under his breath, "Yeah, well, I think you'll find that if I want to cross the styx with a mortal, _**I CAN!**_"

Charon mumbled something, but started rowing them across none the less. Hades turned back to his captive and smiled. She kept her face scowling, "And how do you plan on killing him when he gets down here?"

He waved his hand dismissively, "I'll cross that river when I get to it,"

It was Persephone's turn to scoff, "Oh yeah, sure, you _definitely _got it all planned out oh wise ruler of the cosmos." With that, she turned her body so she was looking away from him and at the helpless souls in the river. Despite her sarcasm, Hades couldn't help but notice how much he enjoyed it when she called him that.


	5. Weaving The Tapestry

"Why would you think he'd exchange his soul for my freedom?" Persephone questioned as she sat on a chair, eating some dish the imps prepared and watching Hades move the tiny figurines on his board.

"Because babe, that's just how heroes work. If there's one thing a villain can count on for a hero, it's for them to be predictable."

She rolled her eyes and started fiddling with the corners of her robe, bored. Less than two hours she's been in the Underworld and she's learned three things:

1) The temperature is actually quite nice, despite what mortals may believe

2) Pain and Panic were excellent cooks

3) There wasn't much to do

He glanced at the mortal across from him every now and again; at first he was annoyed, mortals, nothing could keep them entertained, all they did was complain. Then, he realized, she hadn't complained once and even if she had, he couldn't blame her; he would be bored out of his mind down here too if he wasn't always pre-occupied trying to destroy the son of Zeus.

"Why don't you tell me something?" This surprised him; he stood straight up and looked at her questioningly, "What?"

"Answer me one thing first, babe," she glared at his pet name for her and he smirked before continuing, "why aren't you trying to escape huh? Try to get yourself out of this situation, call on the demi-_yutz_ and get rescued?"

"Is there a way out of here?"

"No,"

"Is there a way to contact Hercules?"

"No,"

Persephone shrugged her shoulders, "There you go. I'm a teacher, I'm not an idiot; I can tell when to try and control a situation and when to just let everything play out while I sit back and watch,"

Hades raised an eyebrow, "That's an oddly…_twisted_ view point, don't you find?" She didn't answer and looked down on the ground. He noticed her cheeks getting flushed and he smiled to himself, focusing back on the map, "What do you want to know?"

Persephone thought about it; this was a once in a life time opportunity. If you could ask a God one question, what would it be? "Tell me about yourself," She responded finally, "About you, and your kingdom,"

He rolled his eyes, "You sure you're only a teacher? You don't do a lil' philosophical what not on the side?" She chuckled and shook her head, "Could'a fooled me. Alright, where do I begin?"

* * *

><p>Aphrodite walked to the Fate's place, letting herself in. She saw them weaving the tapestry of Fate and heard Clotho groan, "Oh shoot,"<p>

Lachesis smacked her sister's arm, "I think you caused an earthquake somewhere in the Roman Empire again!"

"Um, hello? Goddess of Love in the room here!" Aphrodite shouted out,

"We know!" The Fates responded at the same time, stopping their weaving. They stepped out from the shadows to greet their guest. Athropos spoke first, "We also know you had a visit with Demeter yesterday?"

Aphrodite nodded nervously, what did that have to do with anything? She didn't like the Fates. In all honesty, she loved love: making people fall in and out of it, making the perfect couples with just a pluck of an arrow, but when she visited the Fates it was always the same. They told her the names of two people and she had to make it happen, which reminded her that every couple she made was because they weaved it. It made her feel like a pawn, and she didn't appreciate it.

Clotho spoke, bringing back the Goddess' focus, "And you know about her little godling on the way?" Aphrodite nodded again.

"Well," continued Lachesis, "we need a favour from you involving her,"

Aphrodite scoffed, "Oh no, you want me to step between Demeter and her future child? You know her, she's very… maternal… and aggressively defensive when it comes to her baby."

"But, you don't have a choice," Lachesis reminded the Goddess, "We've already woven it,"

Aphrodite groaned and folded her arms across her chest, "Fine," she spat out, "what is it?"

"You see, we already have everything planned out," Clotho informed, running a green, bony hand across the tapestry, "but her feelings seem to be moving… slower than anticipated…"

Athropos cut in, "We need you to make her fall in love,"

"Obviously," Aphrodite mumbled,

"With Hades!" All three Fates shouted, arms spread out.

"What! No, I'm sorry, I'm the Goddess of Love here and I can't see that working out well… for _anyone_! I won't do it and nothing, not you or your stupid tapestry will make me,"

"Really, I'm sure I could convince you," A voice called out from behind the blonde haired Goddess. The voice was firm, yet sweet; very motherly. Aphrodite turned around and dropped her angry and defensive stance, changing her appearance to one of shock,

"Sweet Mother of Gods…"

* * *

><p>"...and I swear on all of the souls in the Styx, Pain and Panic are the worst little <em>putzes<em> to be around. They're just so annoying!"

"Oh, hold up!" Persephone stood up and stalked over to the God, straining her neck to look him in his eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but something struck her; his eyes, she noticed, were black, but seemed so… warm.

He raised an eyebrow at the slack-jawed mortal in front of him, "Uh, hello? Babe? You still in there?" He waved a hand in front of her face. She closed her mouth and coughed, trying to pretend that moment never happened, and also trying to ignore the strange feeling that was growing in the pit of her stomach,

"What I was going to say-"

"Before you were captivated by my gorgeous looks?" He joked. He was surprised when she simply blushed and continued talking,

"Anyways, you want to talk about annoying company? Try teaching my class; all idiotic pubescent teens. And Hercules? Don't even get me started!" She shouted, throwing her hands up and pacing, "He always talks the talk about being a hero, being a god, being this _**great**_ person, but when it comes to school work? He couldn't care less! He should be failing every one of his assignments, but the principle said I couldn't! 'Do you want the wrath of Zeus upon this fine institution?' he said! Ug, and the 'hero-in-training' has a crush on me? Please, as if I'd even consider Jerk-cules as a suitor,"

Hades' eyes widened at her name for the boy-blunder, perhaps this mortal wasn't so bad after all. Then, something hit him, he watched her rant, her hips swaying with each step, her blonde locks following and her thin, delicate fingers clenching in anger. He smirked and walked up behind her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, "Babe? I think we're going to get along just fine!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Oh, I'm so excited to get farther into this story, don't you feel that way sometimes? When there are all these plot twists you have in mind and you just want to publish it all now? But, I won't, I've given away too much already!**

**So, who convinced Aphrodite to do the deed? I'm sure you can guess ^_^**

**Please review, they are very much appreciated!**


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